Israeli raid scrubbed after errant Facebook post

Loose tweets sink fleets

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Israeli military officials said they called off a planned raid on a West Bank village after a combat soldier posted its details on Facebook, according to news reports.

The unnamed soldier included the time and location of the raid on his Facebook page and said troops planned to start "cleaning up" the village. After fellow soldiers alerted their superiors, the incursion was called off for fear the errant post had tipped off enemies.

The incident is precisely the kind of sensitive information leak that security researchers warn can result when individuals post information and pictures to social networking sites. Pictures often embed geographic positioning data or include confidential information on white boards that can be intercepted by bad guys, penetration testers Mike Bailey and Mike Murray warned Wednesday. They dub such techniques 'social penetration'.

The Israeli military has grown wise to the the risk. The soldier has been court-martialed and sentenced to 10 days in jail. Officials have also placed posters at military bases that show images of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other enemies alongside a mock up of a Facebook page. The caption reads: "You think that everyone is your friend?"